Railway road-bed.



M. FRANKLIN.

RAILWAY ROAD BED.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1907.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

MOSES FRANKLIN, OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO.

RAILWAY ROAD-BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Application filed. November 13, 1907. Serial No. 401,914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Mosns FRANKLIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grand Junction, in the county of Mesa and State of Colorado,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Road Beds;and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the in vention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway road beds, my objectbeing to provide a construction which shall to a very large extentovercome the vibration of the cars incident to traveling over roads ofordinary construction.

In my improved road bed the rails are laid upon longitudinally disposedstringers which take the place of the ordinary cross ties. By virtue ofthis construction the rails are supported their entire length, therebeing no gaps or spaces where the rails are unsupported.

lVith road beds having ordinary cross ties, the vibration of the cars isvery great, being largely due to the spaces between the ties where therails are unsupported. lVith my improved construction this difficulty isentirely overcome. Furthermore my improved road bed is provided withtransversely located tie plates whose opposite extremities areinterlocked with the stringers, thus preventing the possibility of thespreading of the rails since if the stringers are held againstspreading, the rails which are securely fastened thereto cannot spread.These transversely located tie plates are preferably alternatelyarranged to occupy positions both above and below the stringers.

Having briefly outlined my improved construction, I will proceed todescribe the same in detail reference being made to the accompanyingdrawing in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing, Figure l is a top plan View of my improved road bedshowing the stringers broken away at both ends and illustrating two ofthe tie plates, one engaging the stringers above and the other below.-

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 22 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is aperspective view in detail of one of my improved t1e plates shown in theposition it occupies when engaging the stringers above. Fig. 4: is asimilar View with the position of the plate reversed or showing theposition it occupies when engaging the stringers underneath.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate each of two longitudinally disposedstringers, the same being preferably composed of wood and made of anysuitable size to give the rails 6 the proper support. As shown in thedrawing these stringers are composed of wood beams square in crosssection. The rails 6 are placed longitudinally upon these beams and areheld in place by bolts 7 which engage washers 8, the latter overlappingthe base of the rails. The bolts as shown in the drawing are passedentirely through the stringers 5 in a diagonal direction. Their lowerextremities engage washers 9 made of such shape as to form seats for theheads of the bolts and also engage the'horizontal face of the stringer.The diagonal position of the bolts adds great security to the fasteningof the rails. Before the rails are applied to the stringers 5, thetransverse tie plates 10 are placed in position. As heretofore statedthese tie plates are alternately arranged above and below the stringers.Each tie plate as shown in the drawing consists of a body part A havingflanged extremities B adapted to engage the stringers on opposite sides.These flanges are provided with openings C through which fasteningdevices as tie rods D may be passed, the said rods passing through bothstringers and being secured by nuts D.

The body A of each tie plate, as shown in the drawing is provided withside flanges E bent at right angles to the body of the plate. Theextremities of these side flanges are free from the body of the plateand bent inwardly toward each other as shown at F, leaving" unflangedspaces G between the flanges F and the flanges B, to receive thestringers. When these plates are put in position, the spaces G of onetie plate engage the tops of the stringers 5 which are cut away to letthe parts Or enter, whereby the tie plate extremities are made flushwith the upper surface of the stringer on opposite sides of the plate.The next tie plate is preferably placed underneath the stringers inwhich event their lower surfaces engage the parts G of the tie plates,the stringers being also cut away at the bottom to receive the saidparts whereby they are flush with the lower surface of the stringers.These tie plates may be located at any suitable intervals in order tomake the road bed absolutely secure and prevent the stringers and railsfrom spreading. The length of these tie plates determines the gage ofthe road or the distance apart of the rails.

It will be observed that the flanges F of the tie plates engage thestringers on the inside while the flanges B engage them on the outsidethus making it impossible for the stringers to move laterally in eitherdirection.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a road bed, the combination of longitudinally disposed stringersand transversely disposed tie plates flanged to engage the stringers onopposite sides, the tie plates being arranged alternately above andbelow the stringers which are cut away to receive the plates, wherebythe latter are flush with the surfaces of the stringers, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination of longitudinally disposed stringers, transverselydisposed tie plates flanged at their opposite extremities to engage eachstringer on both sides, the tie plates being also provided withreinforcing side flanges and bolts arranged to pass diagonally throughthe longitudinal stringers and fasten the rails, substantially asdescribed.

8. The combination in a road bed, of longitudinally disposed stringers,transversely disposed tie plates flanged to engage the stringers on theoutside to prevent the latter from spreading, rails engaging thestringers throughout their entire length, and fastening bolts passeddiagonally through the stringers, the said bolts having top washersoverlapping the base of the rails and held in place by nuts screwed uponthe fastening bolts, substantially as described.

4. The combination with longitudinally disposed stringers, transverselydisposed tie plates connecting the stringers to prevent them fromspreading, rails engaged to the stringers throughout their entirelength, railfastening bolts arranged on opposite sides of the rail andpassing diagonally through the stringers, and washers overlapping thebase of the rails on opposite sides and held in place by the bolts,substantially as described.

5. A railway road bed composed of longitudinally disposed stringers andtransversely disposed tie plates, each of said plates being flanged atits opposite extremities to engage the stringers on opposite sides, tierods passed transversely through the stringers and through the endflanges of the tie plates and bolts passed diagonally through thestringers to fasten the rails, substantially as described.

6. The combination in a road bed, of longitudinally disposed stringers,transversely disposed tie plates flanged to engage the stringers on theoutside to prevent the latter from spreading, rails engaging thestringers, fastening bolts passed diagonally through the stringers, thesaid bolts having top washers overlapping the base of the rails and heldin place by nuts screwed upon the fastening bolts, and tie rods passedtransversely through the stringers and through the end flanges of thetie plates, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MOSES FRANKLIN.

Vvitnesses A. J. OBRIEN, DENA NELSON.

